Malta 2013
Some of you might remember that last year we took a little trip to Disneyland Paris with Rob's parents, his brother and his family.
This year Rob's dad decided that he would like to take everyone on a little trip to celebrate Rob's mum's 50th birthday.
Malta was chosen as it is generally warmer than the UK at this time of year and isn't too expensive.
A weekend trip to Sunny Coast Resort and Spa was booked - in 3 separate apartments to keep everyone happy :)
We set off to Gatwick airport on 14th Feb. We checked into the Premier Inn at Gatwick and did twilight check-in for our flight with Easyjet.
Friday 15th February
After a good night's sleep we got an early start and grabbed breakfast at the airport.
We had a fairly straightforward flight and picked up our bags with no dramas in Malta.
Slight glitch with the transfers but we eventually got it sorted out.
Arrived at the hotel and despite being early one of our rooms was ready.
We dropped all the bags in that room and then went next door to have lunch.
After lunch the rest of the rooms were ready and so we collected all our bags and had a little rest (we were up around 5 this morning.)
All rooms were clean and tidy and we had some nice sea views.
We didn't venture very far for the rest of the day. We checked out the local shops and got some drinks and snacks for the room.
We then went to dinner in the hotel. We had booked half board and I will admit we were slightly concerned about the food.
We needn't have worried, the menu was slightly limited but it was all freshly prepared and was excellent quality.
We headed to bed quite early and planned to go exploring in the morning.
Saturday 16th February
We headed down to breakfast at around 9am and got some information from the hotel staff reference buses and places to visit.
We decided to go to Rabat for the day. It was a little chilly today - and quite windy which when the sun went in made it quite cold :(
Luckily it was sunny for a lot of the day and so the temperature was bearable most of the time.
We successfully caught the bus to Rabat. Prices for buses in Malta are extremely good value (€2.60 per day for adults and €0.50 for children) although the driving can be a little interesting at times.
We arrived at Rabat and went to explore the Mdina - there is a lot of history here but I am lazy so here is a link if you are interested :)
Rabat Mdina
The slightly odd thing here is that they allow cars into the Mdina - the roads are very narrow and the cars appear as if from nowhere!
Here's a piccy of the smallest member of our travelling party:
We wandered around the Mdina a little and then Kev, Sharna and Blake took a horse and carriage ride around the town.
Meanwhile the rest of us went for coffee in a little cafe.
We took a few other piccy's:
We left the Mdina and went for a walk around the rest of Rabat. We saw this dog on top of a garage (you'll probably need to look very closely at the photo) - don't worry he could easily get down :)
We also bought a few Maltese specialties - some fruit cake and nougat to take home.
We started to get a little cold and so headed back to the bus stop to go back to the hotel.
Whilst there we bumped into the lady that was sat next to me on the flight over (small world) and had a little chat while we waited for the bus.
Back to the hotel and I think we had coffee in the apartment before going for dinner a little later.
We had a drink in the bar after dinner before bed.
Sunday 17th February
We were planning to head into Valetta today. We had to stop at a market on the outskirts beforehand as we had been told that it was worth seeing.
Rob and I had assumed that it was a craft market but it was just like a British market with lots of junk for sale. Thankfully we didn't stay long before we got back onto the bus into Valetta.
They are doing a lot of restoration work and there were a lot of construction walls. I tried to take photos that avoided them :)
We grabbed some lunch and then headed down towards the seafront.
We then decided to take the ferry across to Sliema as Rob and I had stayed here a few years ago on a trip to Malta.
It only cost €1.50 per adult and we could get the bus back to the resort from Sliema.
We took a walk up and down the seafront as Rob and I tried to recall where we had stayed. We stopped and had a drink in a little cafe and we eventually came to the conclusion that we had stayed on the other side of Sliema.
The others were getting tired from all the walking we had been doing and so we put them on a bus back to the resort whilst we continued to look around.
The hotel that we had stayed at on our previous trip had been partially knocked down when we were there and so we were interested in whether it was still there.
A little bit of wandering and we were sure we were in the right area.....
We also managed to find the restaurant where we had eaten most of our meals on our last trip.
We did a little more wandering around before taking the bus back to the hotel.
We got off the bus at the terminal and were surprised at how close the resort was to more shops and restaurants...shame we didn't figure that out earlier!
We had coffee in the room before dinner and then headed off to bed as we were leaving in the morning.
Monday 18th February
We grabbed breakfast in the morning before packing the rest of our things and getting our transfer to the hotel. Kev, Sharna and the kids were staying on for another couple of days before coming home.
We arrived at the airport and checked in. Our flight was delayed which was a pain as it meant we would probably arrive home too late to collect the dog :(
Whilst we were at the airport we saw what appears to have been a Maltese politician.
I couldn't get a good picture as he was surrounded by photographers and a camera crew!
Our flight home was fine although we were further delayed by a head wind.
We got our car reasonably quickly and were home by about 7pm but had to collect the dog the next day as we were too late for the kennels :(
Next trip: Dublin for Easter!
This year Rob's dad decided that he would like to take everyone on a little trip to celebrate Rob's mum's 50th birthday.
Malta was chosen as it is generally warmer than the UK at this time of year and isn't too expensive.
A weekend trip to Sunny Coast Resort and Spa was booked - in 3 separate apartments to keep everyone happy :)
We set off to Gatwick airport on 14th Feb. We checked into the Premier Inn at Gatwick and did twilight check-in for our flight with Easyjet.
Friday 15th February
After a good night's sleep we got an early start and grabbed breakfast at the airport.
We had a fairly straightforward flight and picked up our bags with no dramas in Malta.
Slight glitch with the transfers but we eventually got it sorted out.
Arrived at the hotel and despite being early one of our rooms was ready.
We dropped all the bags in that room and then went next door to have lunch.
After lunch the rest of the rooms were ready and so we collected all our bags and had a little rest (we were up around 5 this morning.)
All rooms were clean and tidy and we had some nice sea views.
We didn't venture very far for the rest of the day. We checked out the local shops and got some drinks and snacks for the room.
We then went to dinner in the hotel. We had booked half board and I will admit we were slightly concerned about the food.
We needn't have worried, the menu was slightly limited but it was all freshly prepared and was excellent quality.
We headed to bed quite early and planned to go exploring in the morning.
Saturday 16th February
We headed down to breakfast at around 9am and got some information from the hotel staff reference buses and places to visit.
We decided to go to Rabat for the day. It was a little chilly today - and quite windy which when the sun went in made it quite cold :(
Luckily it was sunny for a lot of the day and so the temperature was bearable most of the time.
We successfully caught the bus to Rabat. Prices for buses in Malta are extremely good value (€2.60 per day for adults and €0.50 for children) although the driving can be a little interesting at times.
We arrived at Rabat and went to explore the Mdina - there is a lot of history here but I am lazy so here is a link if you are interested :)
Rabat Mdina
The slightly odd thing here is that they allow cars into the Mdina - the roads are very narrow and the cars appear as if from nowhere!
 |
| Thankfully this pathway was only for people not cars! |
Here's a piccy of the smallest member of our travelling party:
We wandered around the Mdina a little and then Kev, Sharna and Blake took a horse and carriage ride around the town.
Meanwhile the rest of us went for coffee in a little cafe.
We took a few other piccy's:
We left the Mdina and went for a walk around the rest of Rabat. We saw this dog on top of a garage (you'll probably need to look very closely at the photo) - don't worry he could easily get down :)
We also bought a few Maltese specialties - some fruit cake and nougat to take home.
We started to get a little cold and so headed back to the bus stop to go back to the hotel.
Whilst there we bumped into the lady that was sat next to me on the flight over (small world) and had a little chat while we waited for the bus.
Back to the hotel and I think we had coffee in the apartment before going for dinner a little later.
We had a drink in the bar after dinner before bed.
Sunday 17th February
We were planning to head into Valetta today. We had to stop at a market on the outskirts beforehand as we had been told that it was worth seeing.
Rob and I had assumed that it was a craft market but it was just like a British market with lots of junk for sale. Thankfully we didn't stay long before we got back onto the bus into Valetta.
They are doing a lot of restoration work and there were a lot of construction walls. I tried to take photos that avoided them :)
We grabbed some lunch and then headed down towards the seafront.
We then decided to take the ferry across to Sliema as Rob and I had stayed here a few years ago on a trip to Malta.
It only cost €1.50 per adult and we could get the bus back to the resort from Sliema.
 |
| Sharna and the kids braved the outside of the boat! |
The others were getting tired from all the walking we had been doing and so we put them on a bus back to the resort whilst we continued to look around.
The hotel that we had stayed at on our previous trip had been partially knocked down when we were there and so we were interested in whether it was still there.
A little bit of wandering and we were sure we were in the right area.....
 |
| This is definitely the street - the hotel is long gone! |
We also managed to find the restaurant where we had eaten most of our meals on our last trip.
We did a little more wandering around before taking the bus back to the hotel.
We got off the bus at the terminal and were surprised at how close the resort was to more shops and restaurants...shame we didn't figure that out earlier!
We had coffee in the room before dinner and then headed off to bed as we were leaving in the morning.
Monday 18th February
We grabbed breakfast in the morning before packing the rest of our things and getting our transfer to the hotel. Kev, Sharna and the kids were staying on for another couple of days before coming home.
We arrived at the airport and checked in. Our flight was delayed which was a pain as it meant we would probably arrive home too late to collect the dog :(
Whilst we were at the airport we saw what appears to have been a Maltese politician.
I couldn't get a good picture as he was surrounded by photographers and a camera crew!
Our flight home was fine although we were further delayed by a head wind.
We got our car reasonably quickly and were home by about 7pm but had to collect the dog the next day as we were too late for the kennels :(
Next trip: Dublin for Easter!
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